Victims of Christian Group Tied to Amy Coney Barrett Come Ahead With Tales of Sexual Abuse

In interviews with the Washington Post, women who lived under the watchful eye of a Christian group with direct links to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett said they were denied help if they went to the group’s leaders to resolve sexual incidents Describing assaults ignored.

The report notes that “People of Praise” – described as an organization that “emerged from the charismatic Christian movement of the early 1970s, adopted the practices described in the New Testament of the Bible, including speaking in tongues, usage of Prophecy and Faith Healing ”- now takes a close look at how they have dealt with victims of sexual assault in the past.

Case in point: Katie Logan – now 37 – revealed to the Post that she had been sexually abused by her physics teacher at a People of Praise-run school when she was 17 years old – and then it became the teacher who acted as a Dave Beskar, who ran several other schools without investigation. The WaPo adds that Beskar has denied anything happened.

According to Logan, People of Praise failed her and other victims.

“People of praise have failed me. I think they wanted to protect themselves more than me and other girls, ”explained Logan, adding that she only came forward after being encouraged by the founder of PoP Survivors on Facebook.

There was no mention of People of Praise during Coney Barrett’s confirmatory hearings before receiving a lifelong Supreme Court appointment, despite accusing it of being a haven for anti-LGBTQ Christians.

Matt Laslo says, “Within the POP community, former members describe an oppressive patriarchal system (nothing like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale, even if female leaders were once called’ servants’), a culture of espionage (usually by the ‘mentors’ of the Teenagers searching for student notes through disgusting trash cans) and a culture of isolating paranoia because the danger of being shamed and shunned by the community was always in the air.

Regarding Coney Barrett’s connection, WaPo said, “Barrett, who grew up in a People of Praise ward in Louisiana, has long been active in the South Bend area where she studied at Notre Dame Law School. Barrett lived with People of Praise co-founder Kevin Ranaghan and his wife Dorothy for a while, Dorothy Ranaghan has attested. A 2010 People of Praise directory shows that Barrett served as a “servant,” an important female adviser to another female member. Barrett was on the board of Trinity Schools from 2015 to 2017, whose members must belong to People of Praise. “

The WaPo report adds that the current leadership of POP is taking the allegations seriously. Craig Lent, chairman of the religious group’s board of governors, issued a statement in which the organization took the allegations “seriously,” adding, “People of Praise have always put the safety of children above any reputational concern.” before refusing to answer written questions.